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Russia to launch nationwide citizens militia

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The Russian
government is planning to allow pro-Kremlin volunteers to set up a nationwide
youth militia by recruiting 100,000 destitute 17- to 25-year-olds to patrol
the streets in return for food and shelter.

If approved
by the government, the plans would see the Dobrovolnye Molodezhnye
Druzhiny (DMD), or All-Russian Association of Voluntary, in action across the country by December this year.

Behind the proposed militia is the Nashi, a pro-Kremlin youth movement which has already been criticised by liberals for recruiting
skinheads to "patrol" opposition marches.

Set up in 2005, the movement is considered an initiative by President
Vladimir Putin and it remains faithful to the current prime minister. On 3 August, they announced their proposal to the government to
nationalise youth patrols.

The group already
supervises some youth patrols in the country, but the movement is not widespread. Branches are largely disorganized, funded by churches or local businesses and without any
authority. Unarmed, they are unable to arrest people.

The law proposed by the Nashi
would allow volunteers to carry Tasers and give them the power to stop and search people. The groups would be directly funded by the government and work in collaboration with the
regional police. The State Duma, the lower house of parliament, will vote on the law in October.

Nothing good can come from combining the Nazi Brown Shirts with the Chinese Red Guards. Recruiting young thugs with a criminal
past and then arming them with stun guns has nothing to do with fighting crime.
These squads would be used only against the opposition and immigrants, and those
people are already under attack.

Similar organizations like these already existed in the
Soviet Union 50 years ago. They were called
Young Friends of the Police. These squads were famous for their cruelty. They
beat youngsters who didn't look "Soviet" enough, tore their Western-style clothes and
cut their long hair.

I wouldn't expect anything as dangerous this time round,
however. In modern Russia,
many organizations like these are too busy with embezzlement to properly fulfill
their primary mission.

"Young? Active? Troubled? We're waiting for you in the Volunteer Militia"

Volunteers from
the People's Volunteer Forces of Pushkin, one of many local groups that would be run by the Nashi. The caption reads: "We are Russian.
This is happiness." The image is posted on the group's website along with a
comment that insists the group does not represent a return to Soviet brigades.

Inspired by the Iranian Basij?

Various Russian Web users have compared the initiative
to Iran's
violent Basij militia. Here are a few examples:

"In times of deepening
economic and potential political crises, when protests such as in Pikalevo and Vladivostok could become an everyday reality,
structures such as the Iranian Basij could be very useful for the
authorities." — Posted on Livejournal by blogger SergE.

"Due to its success in Iran,
Russia
will create its own Basij groups from young criminals." — Posted by Egil Belshevic.

"One hundred thousand hooligans in the streets of
Russian towns by 2012?! I'd like to believe it's a joke. Otherwise, we'll have
something like the Hitler Youth or the Iranian Basij." — Posted by Arkashamos.